Replaced the Caravan~Mom's New Van. June 02, 2008, 08:30:49 AM Well it's not a fox, But... it's a Ford! :hick:After this incident:http://foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=19570We went down to the "Mary's Towing" Auction yesterday to see how they did things, And wow... Vehicles go DIRT CHEAP here.Heres some pics of what mom drove home for $380:Got it home no problems at all, Needs some fixes inside though...Still havent gotten the hatch open, heh. anyone know if there is an internal release for it? (Cant find it...)The key we bought from the keymaker is a hack job, works the ignition and the drivers door, but none of the others, need to call out a better smith and get a new key made up...The internal electric door lock switches dont work, Missing the electric window switches on the passenger door, slider wont open from the outside, needs a new ignition switch/assy. and random adjustments here and there.The goods:Power everything, Premium Stereo, AC should work after a recharge/Heater works, Hitch, Never used spare, New Toyo tires on the rear, Limo tint on the rear windows, 2-Tone Clearcoat Paint w/Striping, 3.0 V6 FI Auto w/ RW Drive on a 7.5.And to top everything off... It has a FULL tank of gas!It's not the greatest thing in the world (Kind of looks funny to me, lol!), But we got a good deal, It's in great overall condition~And mom loves it which is most important 'cuz it's her car ;-P. Quote Selected
Replaced the Caravan~Mom's New Van. Reply #1 – June 03, 2008, 11:01:04 PM There aren't too many of them left by me. Salt really eats those things here............ Quote Selected
Replaced the Caravan~Mom's New Van. Reply #2 – June 03, 2008, 11:18:07 PM Quote from: thunderjet302;221903There aren't too many of them left by me. Salt really eats those things here............ I have a fairly nice '93 setting in my back yard, one of these days I'll either fix it or junk it...Romeo2K... Service the automatic transmission ASAP(not just the pan and filter, also drain the torque converter)... Aerostars have the py A4LD tranny and don't usually last much past 100K mi(why most of them are dead around here)... Maybe you're lucky and that one was replaced not too long ago... Quote Selected
Replaced the Caravan~Mom's New Van. Reply #3 – June 04, 2008, 09:24:49 AM x2 on the Trans. My dad went through one on his fairly early. Quote Selected
Replaced the Caravan~Mom's New Van. Reply #4 – June 04, 2008, 10:33:43 AM I wish you luck with it. My company has one that we beat on and it runs great. The ac blows cold and it hasn't given us an ounce of trouble in 120k miles. Quote Selected
Replaced the Caravan~Mom's New Van. Reply #5 – June 04, 2008, 10:33:39 AM I wish you luck with it. My company has one that we beat on and it runs great. The ac blows cold and it hasn't given us an ounce of trouble in 120k miles. Quote Selected
Replaced the Caravan~Mom's New Van. Reply #6 – June 04, 2008, 11:06:05 AM Yep, I would get it to a mechanic and have them go over everything.... you never know what you're getting at an auction...although sometimes you get lucky. Looks like a decent van though, as long as it gets serviced and everything repaired before she drives it too far, it will probably be ok.Congrats. Quote Selected
Replaced the Caravan~Mom's New Van. Reply #7 – June 04, 2008, 12:19:29 PM Forgot to mention, It's an '89 Aerostar XL.And im actually not sure if it's AWD or RWD, It has the light on the dash cluster for the AWD. I havent driven it yet, And no one has seen the light come on (It's all comp controlled).They say it wasnt introduced until '90, But the light makes me wonder... I assume i could tell by looking at the drive train, What would i be looking for?Ugh... Thats the last thing i want to hear about the trans... Especially after the planetary gears blew on the Caravan. From some paperwork we found in the glove compartment, It was used as a "Disabled Person Transport Vehicle" or something of the sort, It's actually still got insurance registered with the business? until sept... heh.Looks like it was due for a tune-up at 112,000 miles (according to the window sticker).Anyone know how bad/common the trans problems are compared to the Caravan trans? I really wasn't aware that these had them...We have the auto+overdrive w/ tunnel shifter. Quote Selected
Replaced the Caravan~Mom's New Van. Reply #8 – June 04, 2008, 08:24:45 PM If it was AWD it should have emblems on the front fenders which it doesn't... Maybe the AWD versions were more common up north, but they are extremely rare in this part of the country... All 3.0 Aerostars got the A4LD, at least till into the 90s... We had five '90s at work, all but mine had the transmissions replaced by 110-120K... with maybe 45K, mine decided to lockup at a stop(acted just like a trans brake), flushing and new fluid fixed it twice(happened again at 80K)... Then I had the tranny serviced once more for good measure at around 125K mi, turned it in with 156K mi, was still shifting fine... Quote Selected
Replaced the Caravan~Mom's New Van. Reply #9 – June 05, 2008, 08:53:30 PM we have a couple at work we use for drop install trucks. Quote Selected
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